Hook with gate

ABSTRACT

A load handling hook has a safety gate across the throat of the hook. The gate includes a pair of gate members rotatably secured to the shank of the hook to be movable from throat closing to throat clearing relation to selectively prevent and permit disengagement of the load from the hook. A latch includes a locking pin slidably mounted in one gate member and extendible through a slot in the other gate member. This pin has an end cap selectively positionable to be engageable with or in clearing relation to the other gate member to selectively prevent and permit opening of the gate.

United States Patent 15] 3,653,102 Crook, Jr. 51 Apr. 4, 1972 [54] HOOKWITH GATE 3,003,214 10/1961 Geraghty ..294/82 [72] lnventor: Edward J.Crook, Jr., Fort Wayne, Ind. Primary Examiner Harvey C HomSby [73]Assignee: American Hoist & Derrick Company, St.AttarneyBurd,Braddock&Bartz Paul, Minn.

221 Filed: July 21, 1970 [571 ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No: 56,764 A loadhandling hook has a safety gate across the throat of the hook. The gateincludes a pan of gate members rotatably secured to the shank of thehook to be movable from throat [52] US. Cl. ..24/241 SL, 24/241 PL,294/82 closing to thma! clearing relatian to Se|etive|y prevent and [51]ll.- Cl. ..A44b 13/00 permit disengagement of he load from the hook. Alatch [58] held of Search 24/241 241 cludes a locking pin slidablymounted in one gate member and 4/241 241 PL extendible through a slot inthe other gate member. This pin 56] References Cited has an end capselectlvely posmonable to be engageable w1th or 1n clearlng relatlon tothe other gate member to selecuvely UNITED STATES PATENTS prevent andpermit opening of the gate.

2,203,139 6/1940 Grau ..294/82 5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR 41912 INVENTORv 5011420 .z L'ZOOKJR W WM HOOK WITH GATE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION It is found advantageous to equip load handling hooks forcranes and hoists and the like with gates and latches. For example, seeUS. Pat. No. 3,003,214. Such gates close the throat of the hook toprevent slippage of a load from the hook and the latches control theoperation of the gates. Frequently, the gates ofier additional strengthto the hook. Such gates typically encumber the throat of the hook,thereby restricting passage to the eye of the Typically, typically, anystrain on the gate as the load tends to become disengaged or as the hookis overloaded is necessarily borne by the latch. The latch thus becomesthe weak and vulnerable link in the unit and is often a source offailure. See also US. Pat. No. 892,940. Further latches are oftensituated so as to receive excessive wear as the gate and hook are usedfor their intended purposes. See U.S. Pat. No. 1,046,795 and thoselisted above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a hook and inparticular to a gate for closing the throat of the hook. The gateincludes a pair of gate members rotatably mounted on the shank of thehook adapted to encompass and engage the tip of the hook when inadjacent relationship to each other. When the gate is closed, each ofthe gate members contacts both the shank of the hook and the tip of thehook, thereby providing additional sideloading strength to the hook.Latch means is provided for the locking together of the gate members toprevent the accidental disengagement of the gate under stress orvibration or the like. Loading on the hook and on the gate members isnot transmitted to the latch means. When the latch means is in an openposition, the gate members are freely rotatable away from the hook tipto provide access to the eye of the hook through the throat thereof.Distortion of the hook as by excessive loading renders the gate latchinoperable and provides a safety check on the strength of the hook.

An object of the invention is to provide a hook having a gate to preventthe accidental disengagement of a load from the hook. A further objectof the invention is to provide a gate which, when opened, will provideunencumbered access to the eye of the hook. Another object of theinvention is to provide a gate for a hook having a latch means toprevent the accidental disengagement of the gate. Another object of theinvention is to provide a gate which offers resistance to sideloadingand does not transmit such loads to the latch means. A still furtherobject is to provide such a gate hook structure in which none of thenormal wear on the gate and hook is transmitted to the latch means.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the hook and gateof the invention showing the gate in a closed and latched position;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the hook and gate of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the hook and gate of the invention showing thegate in an open position;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 4 4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a further enlarged sectional view taken along the line 5-5 ofFIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 66 of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, thereis shown in FIG. 1 a crane hook, indicated generally at 10. Assembled tothe hook 10 is a gate, indicated generally at 11. The hook 10 has agenerally C- shaped body portion 14. A hook shank 12 extends upwardlyfrom one end of the body portion 14 and has a shoulder 15 at the lowerend. At the end of the body portion 14 opposite the shank I2 is anoutwardly curved portion 16 which terminates in an outwardly directedtip 17. The tip 17 is spaced from the lower end of the shank 12 toprovide a throat 19 for the hook.

The gate 11, as seen by FIGS. I and 2, extends from the shank 12, acrossthe throat l9, and encompasses and engages the tip 17, thereby closingthe throat 19. The gate 11 includes a first gate member or arm 20 and asecond gate member or arm 30 and releasable latch means for holding thefirst arm 20 and the second arm 30 in adjacent relationship to eachother and to the hook tip 17. The first gate arm 20 has a curved gateportion 21 and, at one end, an integral circular collar 22 whichrotatably engages the shank 12. The collar 22 is made up of a pair ofspaced apart eyes, including an upper eye 28 and a lower eye 29. Thelower eye 29 rests on the shoulder 15. The curved gate portion 21 of thefirst gate arm 20 curves outwardly and downwardly from the collar 22 toa position adjacent the tip 17 of the hook. At the end of the arm 20opposite the collar 22 a recess 23 is provided. The portions of arm 20bounding the recess engage the upper and outer portion of a side of thetip 17 when the arm 20 is in adjacent relationship to the tip 17. In thegate portion 21 there is provided an elongated slot 24 extendingtransversely through the gate portion 21. As one end of the slot 24,there is provided a circu Iar enlargement 25. As seen by FIG. 6, thesecond gate arm 30 is generally symmetrical to the first am 20, having acurved gate portion 31 and an integral circular collar 32 at one end.The collar 32 rotatably engages the shank 12 in the space between theupper eye 28 and the lower eye 29 of the collar 22. The arm 20 and thearm 30 are thus interlocked on the shank 12. The curved gate portion 31curves outwardly and downwardly from the collar 32 to a positionadjacent the tip 17. At the end of the arm 30 opposite the collar 32 arecess 33 is provided. The portions of arm 30 bounding the recess engagethe upper and outer portion of the side of the tip 17 opposite to thatengaged by the arm 30, when the arms 20 and 30 are each in adjacentrelationship to the tip 17. It may be seen that when the gate 11 isclosed, the arm 20 and the arm 30 are symmetrically positioned inadjacent relationship to one another and to the tip 17. The recess 23and the recess 33 mate to form a cavity enclosing the outer and upperportions of the tip 17. The throat 19 of the hook 10 is therebyenclosed. As seen by FIGS. 3 and 4, the gate 11 is opened by rotation ofthe arm 20 and the arm 30 on the shank 12 away from the tip 17, therebyproviding unencumbered access through the throat 19 to the eye of thehook 10. Should the hook l0 become distorted, as by bending fromexcessive loading, it may be seen that the gate 11 will be inoperative,as the recess 23 and the recess 33 will not receive all of the tip 17.This serves as a warning that the maximum hook load has been exceededand the hook weakened.

In the gate portion 31 of the arm 30 there is provided an elongated slot34 extending transversely through this gate portion. The slot 34 is insymmetric alignment with the slot 24 when the arm 30 is in adjacentrelationship to the arm 20. The slot 34, however, has not a circularenlargement as does the slot 24.

As best seen by FIGS. 4 and 6, the latch means includes a locking pin 26and a spring clip 27 in conjunction with the slot 24 and the slot 34.The locking pin 26 is comprised of a shaft 36 having at either end, endcaps 37 and 38, and having intermediate between the ends an integralcollar 39. That portion of shaft 36 between end cap 37 and collar 39slides in the slot 34, whereby the locking pin 26 may be moved back andforth in the slot 34 without becoming disengaged from the arm 30. Thespring clip 27 is attached to the arm 30 by means of a rivet 40 and isgenerally in alignment with the slot 34, disposed between the collar 39and the arm 30. The spring clip 27 engages between its legs the shaft36, and is adapted to bias the locking pin 26 in either an open positionor a locked position. Note that the arm 20 and the arm 30 are cut awayto provide clearance for the collar 39 and spring clip 27.

When in the open position, the locking pin 26 is in alignment with theenlargement 25 of the slot 24. When the gate is closed, by rotating thearms 20 and 30 into adjacent relationship with each other, the end cap38 of the locking pin 26 passes through the enlargement 25 of the slot24. The locking pin is biased in the open position by the spring clip27. The gate is locked by the moving of the locking pin to the lockingposition. The shaft 26 between the end cap 38 and the collar 39 slidesinto the slot 24. The locking pin is then biased in the locked positionby the spring clip 27. The end cap 37 and the end cap 38 preventmovement apart of the arm 20 and the arm It may be seen that when thegate 11 is in a closed and locked position, a side loading applied tothe gate is absorbed independently by the arms 20 and 30, and is nottransmitted to the locking pin 26.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. An improved hook with gate of the type having a shank, a bodyportion, a tip spaced from the shank thereby providing a throat opening,and a gate selectively movable between an open position clear of saidthroat and a closed position across said throat opening, wherein theimprovement includes:

said gate includes a first arm rotatably mounted on the shank, a secondarm rotatably mounted on the shank, said first arm and said second armbeing rotatable on said shank to a position of adjacent relationship toeach other, adapted together to encompass the tip of the hook when inadjacent relationship to each other, said first arm and said second armbeing provided with slots in mutually symmetrical alignment, andreleasable latch means operative when said arms are in said adjacentrelationship to retain said arms in such relationship, said latch meansincluding a locking pin sliding in one of said slots to be movablebetween an open position allowing passage of said pin into the otherslot and a locked position wherein said pin cannot be removed from saidother slot.

2. The hook with gate of claim 1 including:

means to bias said locking pin to always tend to retain its current openposition or locked position.

3. The hook with gate of claim 1 wherein: said first arm and said secondarm are interlocked on said shank.

4. The hook with gate of claim 1 wherein: said gate outside of and insurrounding relationship to said tip is situated to be in contacting,load bearing relationship to said tip upon spreading of the hook underoverload conditions 5. An improved hook with gate of the type having ashank, a body portion, a tip spaced from the shank thereby providing athroat opening, and a gate selectively movable between an open positionclear of said throat and a closed position across said throat opening,wherein the improvement includes:

said gate includes a first arm rotatably mounted on the shank, a secondarm rotatably mounted on the shank, independently of said first arm saidfirst arm and said second am being rotatable on said shank in oppositedirections to a position of adjacent relationship to each other,together to encompass the tip of the hook when in adjacent relationship,and releasable latch means being provided between said arms operativewhen said arms are in said adjacent relationship to retain said arms insuch relationship.

2% UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE @ERTIFECATE OF GRRECTEN Dated Apri l 41972 Patent No. 3 6 53 l0 2 1nventor 5 Edward J. Crook, Jr.

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent andthat said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 11, after "the" (second occurrence) hook.-

should be added.

Column 1, line 11, second occurrence of "typically" is repetitive andshould be omitted.

Column 4, line 22, "said first arm" (second occurrence) is repetitiveand should be omitted.

Signed and sealed this 26th day of September 1972.

QSEAL} wAtla es t:

EDWARD MQFLETCHERJR. ROBERT GDT'I'SCHALK Commissioner of PatentsAttesting Gfficer

1. An improved hook with gate of the type having a shank, a bodyportion, a tip spaced from the shank thereby providing a throat opening,and a gate selectively movable between an open position clear of saidthroat and a closed position across said throat opening, wherein theimprovement includes: said gate includes a first arm rotatably mountedon the shank, a second arm rotatably mounted on the shank, said firstarm and said second arm being rotatable on said shank to a position ofadjacent relationship to each other, adapted together to encompass thetip of the hook when in adjacent relationship to each other, said firstarm and said second arm being provided with slots in mutuallysymmetrical alignment, and releasable latch means operative when saidarms are in said adjacent relationship to retain said arms in suchrelationship, said latch means including a locking pin sliding in one ofsaid slots to be movable between an open position allowing passage ofsaid pin into the other slot and a locked position wherein said pincannot be removed from said other slot.
 2. The hook with gate of claim 1including: means to bias said locking pin to always tend to retain itscurrent open position or locked position.
 3. The hook with gate of claim1 wherein: said first arm and said second arm are interlocked on saidshank.
 4. The hook with gate of claim 1 wherein: said gate outside ofand in surrounding relationship to said tip is situated to be incontacting, load bearing relationship to said tip upon spreading of thehook under overload conditions.
 5. An improved hook with gate of thetype having a shank, a body portion, a tip spaced from the shank therebyproviding a throat opening, and a gate selectively movable between anopen position clear of said throat and a closed position across saidthroat opening, wherein the improvement includes: said gate includes afirst arm rotatably mounted on the shank, a second arm rotatably mountedon the Shank, independently of said first arm said first arm and saidsecond arm being rotatable on said shank in opposite directions to aposition of adjacent relationship to each other, together to encompassthe tip of the hook when in adjacent relationship, and releasable latchmeans being provided between said arms operative when said arms are insaid adjacent relationship to retain said arms in such relationship.